Winter Blooms: GBBD, January 2018
 January in Maine is a cold, white season. But the potted cyclamen plants I bought in December are providing warmth, color, and a winter flower fix. Both plants have been blooming profusely for over a month now, and I never get tired of the way their petals are set alight by sun streaming through my living room window. |
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Since flowers in the garden are still at least two months away (the first crocuses bloomed last year on March 30), it is good that I have promises of more indoor blooms to come. The two hyacinth bulbs that I bought last winter when I was desperate for color and fragrance and then never got around to doing anything with after they finished blooming have put up new growth and flower buds. They look like they will bloom in the next two weeks.
Each year, I wait with baited breath to see which of my dozen or so potted amaryllis (Hippeastrum) bulbs will make flowers. This week, I noticed a flower stalk coming up on this one. This is the first time it will bloom since I repotted all the bulbs three years ago, and I don’t know which variety it is. I thought it might be ‘Apple Blossom’ when I chose this celadon-colored pot for it. In a few weeks, I will know whether that guess was correct.
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Visit her blog to see other winter blooms from the northern hemisphere and some summer blooms from the southern hemisphere.
Jean's Garden 
I’ve loved seeing your Cyclamen each winter, always beautifully back-lit by the sun. In fact, these views inspired me to pick up a couple of the plants for my new lath (shade) house, constructed by my husband as my Christmas present. The Cyclamen were among the very first plants installed in the new space. Happy GBBD, Jean!
Your indoor garden is splendid. All of my garden is covered with snow. Happy GBBD.
What a nice sight on a cold day. I might have to swing by the grocery to see if there’s anything as colorful for sale here!
My amaryllis look much less promising since I neglected them completely last summer. I guess there’s always hope though.
Hello Jean, we had Amaryllis “Apple Blossom” years ago but I lost patience with it producing bulb offsets and never reflowering. We have tried outdoor cyclamen for the first time this year, they’re just about still flowering but not as well as yours. It’s cheering to still have flowering plants during the winter months.
watching a Crinum bud come up here (it must have got just enough of the surplus greywater to make a difference)